Mormon  State.

William Smith, brother to the founder and Prophet, now the self-styled head of the church of Latter Day Saints, asserts in a communication to the Cincinnati Commercial, that the Salt Lake Mormons will not be content with anything less than a free and independent government. He in addition states that the men named as officers for this government, are men who have taken the following oath, with others equally treasonable:

"You do solemnly swear in the presence of Almighty God, his holy angels, and these witnesses, that you will avenge the blood of Joseph Smith, on this nation, and teach the same to your children; and that you will, from this time, henceforth and forever, begin and carry out hostilities against the nation, and to keep the same intent a profound secret now and forever. -- So help you God.


Notes: (forthcoming)

                                                  St. Louis, Nov. 29, 1849.
Editors Ohio State Journal:

J. H. Kinkead has arrived in this city from the Salt Lakes. He left from them on the 19th October, with thirty-five companions and met with no accident. The snow is deep on the plains.

A treaty of peace has been effected between the Military at Fort Laramie and the Pawnees.

A new colony of Mormons has been formed, 700 miles south of Salt Lake City. -- Twenty-five Mormon preachers came with Kinkead. They are sent to preach Mormonism to all the world.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Salt  Lake  Basin.

MORMONS. -- The St. Louis Republican, of the 4th instant, has some late information from the Great Salt Lake, derived from a Mr. Forsyth, who had just arrived at St. Louis from the Lake, which he left about the last of September.

When he left the settlement the most of the emigrants, including all the early trains, had gone forward to California. Of this number was Gen. Wilson, as Indian agent, and his party. A number of emigrants, however, expected to pass the winter at Salt Lake City and Fort Bridger. The Mormons, Mr. Forsyth says, have discovered a route occupying only some twenty or thirty days to cross the desert; and Sierra Nevada, on which there is an abundance of wood and water at every stage, and of easy crossing. Parties of Mormons had made the whole distance from the Sacramento to the Salt Lake, with packed mules, in fifteen days.

Major Stansberry, on the U. S. topographical corps, with his party, had arrived in the Great Basin. It was understood that, under orders of the United States government, he would make a survey of the Lost Lake and the various streams traversing the Salt Basin. His mission was not favorably regarded by the settlers.

Money was plenty in the Basin, and to this may be added the fact that the Mormons have established a mint of their own, at which a large amount of the California gold dust has been coined. They have issued coin of various denominations, to the amount of $20 pieces.


Notes: (forthcoming)

                  From the Washington Republic.
The Mormons of Deseret.

The readers of this paper have doubtless noticed, in the Congressional proceedings, the presentation in the Senate on Monday last, of a memorial of Wm. Smith and Isaac Sheen, claiming to be the legitimate presidents of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, and twelve other individuals of that community, now settled in the valley of the Salt Lake, with having taken an oath to avenge on the people and Government of this country, the murder of Joseph Smith, and with a determination now to carry that oath in[to] effect; and further accusing them of grossly immoral conduct, by adopting the doctrine of polygamy, &c.

Now, in relation to this matter, it is not improbable that these charges are exagerated and untrue, and such as could not stand the test of calm judicial investigation. We have no sympathies or regards for this Mormon people; but, judging from what we have formerly heard and latterly known of them, we deem these accusations to be entirely absurd and impossible.

In the first place, if we remember aright, this Wm. Smith, the first petitioner, is a brother of the celebrated Joseph Smith, who originally presided over the Mormons. At the time of Joseph's death, he presented himself to the Mormons, claiming to be the legitimate successor of his deceased brother; but the Mormon people refused to recognize him in that capacity. But, as we have been informed, inasmuch as he was a brother of one who was highly cherished among them, they consented to afford him protection and sustenance for a time; but his conduct at length becoming, as they allege, more and more dissolute, he was expelled from the pale of their church. Smith's hierarchical asperations, his subsequent expulsion from the Mormon church, sufficiently explain his present hostility in that community.

It will be recollected, when the Mormons were on their way to the far west, fleeing from the persecutions which they had suffered in Illinois and Missouri, overtures were made to them by the United States officers, under instructions from our government, inviting them to join in the hostilities which were going to be waged against the Mexican republic. Would this have been the case had they sworn to avenge their wrongs against the government and people of the United States? We find them now knocking at our doors for admission into our Union, at a time when another populous and less remote community are in no hurry for such a consummation. Does this look like settled hostility to the United States? We think not.

The objections urged against this people on the score of their grasping for territory, and their immoral practices, we are inclined to believe, are of an equally fragile tenure. With Texas and California claiming an area much larger than they have actually occupied, it is not surprising that Deseret should do the same. We believe after all, that the people of Deseret will be willing to take such limits as Congress may choose to assign to them. Can the same be said of other States which have applied for admission or been received into the Union? As to the polygamy charged against this people, we consider it almost too absurd to merit notice. That a people, the principal portion of whom have been born and brought up in the United States, and the next largest [part of whom --------- ------- ------ ---- --------- --------- ----- -------] the constitution under which they ask admission as a state, than which we have not seen one more lucid or better arranged in any of the states of this Union.


Note 1: It seems unlikely that the above text was entirely the product of a non-Mormon Washington editor's pen. The overly sympathetic writer know far too much about the "dissolute" William Smith's activities, to have not been heavily coached in his writing about that former LDS leader, etc.

Note 2: In some years this newspaper carried a masthead which read "Geauga Republic." The generic "Geauga Republican" name is used here for the entire run of the publication, until it was re-named the "Geauga Democrat."

Reported for the Ohio Repository.

                                                  St. Louis, January 18.
From Salt Lake -- A letter dated Salt Lake City, Oct. 18, says the Mormons from California have brought much gold. All kinds of merchandize are high and scarce. There are only two small stores in the valley, which contains a population of 15,000 persons. The snow was on the mountains all around the valley, and at the South Pass it was 4 feet deep. A rumor prevailed that a band of Missouri emigrants had killed some Squaws of the Snake Indian tribe in the mountains, & in consequence that tribe were hostile to the whites. They had a battle with another band of emigrants, subsequently. Livingston and Kinkhead, traders at Salt Lake, cleared $10,000 in two weeks; having sold all their merchandize within that time. Mr. Rose of New York, sold $5000 worth of goods in 4 days. The grain crops had been good, and the country was prosperous.


Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMON  COINS.

The monetary notions of the Mormons at their Great Salt Lake settlement, are no less peculiar, it appears, than their ideas of society and religion. We have a verious curious coin in our possession, which is manufactured and extensively circulated among that remarkable people, and quite to the disparagement, travelers tell us, of every other species of gold currency. Of all the fanciful forms into which our golden wealth is wrought, this sainted shape excells in singularity. Its weight is about 15 pwts. Troy, its current worth, among the Mormons, twenty dollars. Its circumference is that of a Spanish half doubloon. One side bears the inscription 'Holiness to the Lord,' with the All-seeing Eye, surmounted by the prophet's cap; on the reverse appear the initials C. S. L. C. P. C., the grasp of fellowship, with the date (1849) and the value of the piece. It is clumsy, and in execution without merit.


Note: The precious metal intended for gold coinage requires the admixture of a small percentage of base metal, in order to give the soft gold some minimal durability. The Mormons, it is reported, were rather overgenerous with copper, etc., in concocting their mint alloys in Deseret -- to the result that they could make an immediate 10% profit, simply by exchanging their locally minted coins (having the appearance of gold), for the official (purer and relatively weightier) gold money issued by the U. S. Government.

Gen. James Arlington Bennett, formerly connected with the Mormons, has been arrested for forgery in New York. Several others are implicated. The morals of New York must be in a precious condition, as would appear from the following.

The New York Mirror, speaking of 'more astounding developments' of crime in that city, connected with recent arrests, says 'lawyers, merchants, and even clergymen' are suspected of being mixed up in 'business transactions' with these counterfeiters, thieves, and assassins; and there is no knowing where the lightning of justice will strike next.


Note 1: James A. Bennet (or Bennett) was reportedly baptized by Brigham Young, on a beach of the Atlantic Ocean, during the mid-1840s. Bennet later repudiated the event as a sort of joke upon Brigham. According to Elder Lyndon Cook's 1980 book, The Words of Joseph Smith, James A. Bennet's baptism as an LDS came in 1843.

Note 2: Bennet was Smith's initial choice as a running mate in his ill-fated bid for the U. S. Presidency in 1844. In 1845 the Quincy Whig said of Bennet: "He has recently been among them [the Mormons] and in his bombastic manner, told the Mormons what he could do with 20 pieces of cannon and 12 or 15,000 men... If 'Gen. James Arlington Bennett,' is the brave and skillful officer he boasts, why does he not stay with his valiant friends, the Mormons, and control their actions? His Generalship is all displayed on paper." -- After the twelve "benevolent heads" running the LDS Church made it clear to Bennet that he could not assume a leading role within the ranks of their Nauvoo Legion, he returned to New York, where he appears to have forgotten his Mormon baptism altogether.

==> The new territory of Deseret which is anxiously waiting to become a Sovereign State of the Union, appears to possess a very liberal minded population; the Mormon creed permitting a plurality of wives. The President of that interesting Republic is said to have thirty. Elder Pratt, from Boston, more moderate in his matrimonial notions has only seven, and even one of them has run away with a California soldier.


Note: As far back as 1842 the public press was accusing top Mormon leaders of practicing bigamy, adultery or polygamy, under the guise of "peculiar" religious teachings. The Church officials denied these allegations prior to their leaving Nauvoo, and for several years thereafter. But, while on the trail west, and once settled at Salt Lake, the saintly leaders could not well hide their "patriarchal order of marriage" from prying Gentile eyes. The years 1850-52 must have been particularly embarrassing ones for truly honest Mormons, in that reports of LDS polygamy spread through the popular prints much faster than the "Lord's Anointed" in Deseret could issue sundry denials of their secret marital practice. Eventually all of this "lying in the name of the Lord" ceased and by 1853 plural marriage was a topic inciting zealous defense among the Mormons, rather than uneasy refutations.

THE  MORMONS.

A Mr. Snow, brother of Z. Snow, Esq. of this place, arrived here on Friday last, on his was to [Denmark?], in Europe as a Missionary. The Mormons appear to be prosperous in their new home at the Salt Lake.

Notes: (forthcoming)

==> The report circulating in the newspapers, that the Mormons at Deseret allow polygamy, and permit the most licentious and depraving practices, is pronounced by the Washington papers as totally false, and without the slightest foundation.


Notes: (forthcoming)

From  Deseret.

Late accounts have been received from the Mormon Country. Numerous deputies started upon their missions to England, France, Italy, Denmark and Sweden. They speak confidently of their success in these countries and where they place before the laboring population, such as that in England, pressed down to the earth by both Church and State, the prospect of a home, a portion of the soil to cultivate, and of a sufficiency of the common wants of humanity, it is not wonderful that they should be ready to embrace the doctrines of faith even as extravagant as that of the Mormons and be numbered among the "Latter Day Saints." To them any belief that will rescue them from starvation must be acceptable. The estimate of the Mormons is, that their number in England is now 50,000.

It is thought that very few of the emigrants to California will winter in the Valley of the Salt Lake; those who were too late for the northern route, took the southern, and but few are left.

Goods of every description are needed much in the Valley, and would meet with a ready sale. There is gold enough among them to pay for all goods sent to them. Cows and sheep, if young and healtrhy, bring a good price and are much sought for. Chickens and hogs they have in plenty, but not many turkeys or geese. The emigration from Iowa to Deseret will, probably, next summer double its present population.

---

The Mormons of Salt Lake.

A Correspondent of the New Orleans Crescent , of the 18th inst., writing from Salt Lake and speaking of the people says:

They are from every state of the Union -- healthy, though pale and poor about the face, cheek [bones] apparent. They are industrious and temperate in the use of ardent spirits. Probably one reason is the high price of it (as one-half of the selling price of liquor sold here has to go to the city.) They claim no allegiance to the United States, but call themselves Mormons and many think they are in a Mormon country. -- They are generally ignorant, and seldom think for themselves, except it is in driving a bargain, but appear enthusiastic as regards their faith. There is a great number of settlers from Alabama and Mississippi, who have come to this place with their negroes, and hold them here the same as they did formerly. The successor to Joe Smith -- Brigham Young, is about forty-five years old. He has the largest number of wives of any one in the settlement, only 26. This is not a large number, considering he had to take all the wives of Joe Smith that could not get other husbands. Some that have come under my observation have had eleven, five, three, two and one. These are facts, beyond cavil; and the only tie that binds these people together is bigamy. The spectacle is revolting, and in the course of a few years there will be a dozen children, all of the same age, having the same father, but different mothers. To what part of the world can they go and be respected? -- nowhere. To be a Mormon is to be all that is base and vile. All the ties that bind the opposite sexes together in mutual confidence and affection are trampled under foot by designing men, to gratify their own lustful passions, and the ignorant think they cannot be doing right without following the example of their high-priest, Young, and their twelve apostles. The Mormons have to give one-tenth of the products of their farms or other business to the church, and also the tenth working day the whole year, making twenty per cent, -- a pretty heavy tax most people would think. The object is to get as much money into the treasury as possible, so as to be able to carry out their plan, which is to have a line of settlements to the Pacific from this place, having its terminus in the southern part of Upper California, hoping to be able to diseminate their religion in the newly acquired territory.


Note: It is interesting to see that the top Mormons' polygamy was being openly reported in the public press at almost exactly the same time that prominent LDS missionaries operating in the eastern US and in England (like Apostle John Taylor), were denying the existence of any such thing among the Saints.

Deseret.

The Washington correspondent of the Journal of Commerce writes:

"As to Deseret, I have seen a memoir, or rather heard it read, giving a very minute and satisfactory account of that region; and it appears that, with the exception of some inconsiderable portion, it is a barren waste, and incapable of sustaining, at any time, a large population. The present population is only fifteen thousand, and the emigration for the next year is estimated at twenty thousand only. -- I learn too, that in consequence of the division of the Mormons into two separate and hostile sects, the majority of them will never emigrate to Deseret. The Mormons of Deseret are adverse to a Territorial Government, because they do not wish to receive civil rulers, governors, judges, &c. &c., from Washington...


Note: In some years this newspaper carried a masthead which read "Geauga Republic." The generic "Geauga Republican" name is used here for the entire run of the publication, until it was re-named the "Geauga Democrat."

  (Notice of William Smith's excommunication of Isaac Sheen
-- under construction)

 


Note 1: Although the full details and exact sequence of events leading up to the rift between William Smith and Elder Isaac Sheen remain very obscure, it appears that about the middle of May, 1850, William sent for publication in the Cincinnati Commercial, a notice declaring that Isaac Sheen was excommunicated from the Smithite church. Probably William sent this notice from his home at Palestine (Shelbourn) in Lee Co., Illinois, after he learned that Isaac had written a letter to the Hon. R. H. Stanton, disassociating himself from William Smith's various remonstrances against the admission of Mormon Deseret as a state of the Union. The Commercial had previously called William "a noble fellow," and perhaps he felt the editor would be a little sympathetic to his cause. Isaac wrote his letter to Stanton, from Cincinnati, on May 4th and it was published, in Washington. D. C., on May 17th. In this May 4th letter Elder Sheen had some very hostile things to say about "the hypocrisy, licentiousness, treachery, deceit, slanders, and lies of William Smith."

Note 2: Isaac Sheen's turbulent dissatisfaction with William Smith appears to have come to a head after Sheen received a letter from Smith, dated Apr. 18, 1850, and evidently written from Lee Co., Illinois. This letter, which was published in the Cincinnati Commercial of May 22nd, attempts to justify the "spiritual doctrine" with the explanation that "the ancient patriarchs had more wives than one," etc., etc. Sheen's reply to William Smith has been lost, but it must have been so hostile and damning as to make William repent with words like "I... offer my life as a sacrifice." William's repentance came in a letter dated "Shelburn, Lee Co., Ill., April 29, 1850," which was published in the Cincinnati Daily NonPareil on about May 21st. Sheen did not accept William Smith's repentance. He went ahead and wrote his letter to Congress, and Smith retaliated by excommunicating the disobedient elder.

Note 3: The context in which the split between Smith and Sheen occurred is explained a little on pages 14-15 of a booklet written by Sheen's son, in 1889: "In February, 1849, Isaac Sheen began the publication of a small paper devoted exclusively to 'lineal rights' of the 'Smith family.'... Through the visit and death of Otis Hobart it was learned that the 'devil' [polygamy] was in Texas [in Lyman Wight's group] and that William was not above suspicion. Father laid a plan to entrap him, and succeeded in getting a polygamous letter from William, who was then in Illinois. He immediately exposed... [Smith]; withdrew his name from the petition against the 'State of Deseret' and pulled up the 'Stake of Zion' in Covington... William's wife, Roxy, came to Covington and the result was that she gave into father's hands a lot of papers and books."

                        For the Cincinnati Commercial.

William Smith - Fornication - Adultery.

MR. EDITOR: The statement of the Commercial this morning, concerning me are incorrect. Wm. Smith has not cut me off from his church. I have cut myself off, and intend to remain cut off eternally from such a hypocritical libertine. He has professed the greatest hostility to the plurality wife doctrine, but on the 18th ult., he told me that he had a right to raise up posterity from other men's wives. He said it would be an honor conferred upon them and their husbands, to allow him that privilege, and that they would thereby be exalted to a high degree of glory in eternity. He said that the Salt Lake Mormons had no authority to do such things, but that the authority belonged to him, and that I might have the same privilege. He offered me his wife on the same terms that he claimed a partnership in other men's wives. I told him instantly that I would have no more connection with him, and that such damnable iniquity, I never had, and never would participate in. I did not wait for him to cut me off, and he has no church in Covington to cut any one off. There is no person that acknowledges him in Covington except Mrs. ________, a married woman. Wm. Smith says that I have become a Salt Lake Mormon. This statement is false. I acknowledge allegiance to no church, neither Mormon nor anti-Mormon. I have witnesses to prove that Smith's statements concerning the Church Records are totally false; his wife, who has left him, in consequence of his licentiousness, has either taken them with her, or has disposed of them. I can prove that A. W. Babbitt was an enemy to me at the time that I renounced my connection with Wm. Smith. I find that Smith has caused me, by false representations, to misrepresent Mr. Babbitt and the Salt Lake Mormons, but I have no connection with their church, and never intend to have. I have in my possession a letter written by Mr. Smith, in which he advocates the plurality wife doctrine. I have another letter written by him on the 29th ult., in which he asks my forgiveness for his participation in such iniquity, and has determined to forsake it. Recent events show that this pretended repentance was base hypocrisy. Subjoined to this communication may be found an extract of his Fornication Letter.
                                ISAAC SHEEN.
Covington, Ky., May 20, 1850.

---

EXTRACT FROM WM. SMITH'S FORNICATION LETTER.

"My wife says that she will not go to Texas for fear of the spiritual doctrine. I have told her better, but all to no avail. The book of Covenants I have not with me, but suppose you refer to the law on marriage, that says a man shall have obe wife, &c. The ancient patriarchs had more wives than one. This was allowed by the law of God, or it would not have been so, and for priesthood purposes in propagating a multitude of those to whom the promises were given. There are two kinds of marriages -- first marriage by the law of God, and secondly, marriage by the law of man. It needs no argument to convince you that marriage consumated by the laws of man have no binding influence upon us, no further than our discretion is concerned, and is a part of the subject that I will notice in another place. But one thing here I wish you to notice in the argument, as I pass along, and that it is no where said in holy writ, that whatsoever man has joined together, let no man put asunder. The works of man you know will not stand when the refining fire comes. God is able to break our bands asunder, that have not been cemented by the sealing power of the gospel. In Mark, 10 ch., 2d and 12th verses, the subject assumes a different complexion. The question is -- has a man a right to marry her that is put away. My views run with the text in this respect, also to marry her that is put away, for the crime of fornication, as named in Matthew, 19th and 9th, he is guilty of adultery; in case this marriage was consumated in celestial order, or by the law of the authority of God, the holy Priesthood Marriages are made in heaven; if they are joined together on earth by God's own authority, hence a departure from this covenant would make the crime [of] guilt. Thousands in this world live together on contract, and call it marriage, and now for the solution of the text, Paul, to the Corinthians, says, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife. Then, of course, she must be his wife -- sealed to him by the law of God; but if she is unequally yoked and disunited in spirit, she then is not a wife, for no lawful marriage exists when the spirits are disunited. But it seems that Paul in the 1st verse of this 7th chapter, speaks of a crime, in its modified sense a little crime, and a little crime in the following manner: It is good for a man not to touch a woman, yet if he marries her it is no crime -- he avoids fornication. But in the 28th verse, he supposes a covenant to exist, as in the case of the thousands that now live, as they suppose they do, in marriage, yet are not married, not by the law of God; yet it seems a man has his virgin if he keeps her as well, but if he defile her, has committed no sin if he marry her. 12th v. says, if a man have a wife that believeth not, and she please to tarry, let her tarry. I condemn this saying, because they are unequally yoked, and this contradiction is too plain and palpable to believe that both sayings are from God, in fact, Paul says, that the Lord does not say these words. I say that if a woman lives with a man in disunion of spirits, they both of them are in transgression, and are guilty of the law of fornication.


Note 1: Elder Isaac Sheen (1810-1874) located in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1846. The following year William Smith, brother of Joseph Smith, parted ways with the Strangite church. Following this rupture with Strang, William expended a good deal of effort in visiting different branches of disaffected Mormons, including a group living in Cincinnati and across the river in Covington, Kentucky. By 1849 Isaac Sheen was acting as one of William Smith Counselors in the Smithite First Presidency, and editing its newspaper, the Melchisedek and Aaronic Herald, at Covington. In April, 1850 Sheen broke with Smith and became a Mormon without a leader for several years (see his letter in the Saturday Evening Post of Oct. 9, 1852). In 1859 Sheen joined the Reorganization and became the editor of its new publication, The Saints' Herald, which he published for several years at Cincinnati.

Note 2: In his Mormon Polygamy: A History, Richard S. Van Wagoner says of William Smith: "William lapsed into the same [polygamous] patterns when he joined the Strangites. Both he and John C. Bennett were excommunicated for immorality in the summer of 1847. Shortly afterwards, Smith formed his own church, in Lee County in northern Illinois. But his followers saw his religious polygamy as a cover-up for licentious promiscuity. Isaac Sheen, who severed himself from the movement in early 1850, referred to William as a 'hypocritical libertine.'"

Note 3: For more on the background of Isaac Sheen's religious break with William Smith, see John K. Sheen's 1889 booklet Polygamy, or the Veil Lifted. There the younger Sheen says of his father: "In February, 1849, Isaac Sheen began the publication of a small paper devoted exclusively to 'lineal rights' of the 'Smith family.' In June of that year a conference was held in Covington, Ky., and... a combination with Lyman Wight was made... William was not above suspicion [of wicked acts]. Father laid a plan to entrap him, and succeeded in getting a polygamous letter from William, who was then in Illinois. He immediately exposed 'the Elijah of the last dispensation;'... and pulled up the 'Stake of Zion' in Covington." At this time Elder Isaac Sheen also withdrew his name from the 1849 petition he and William Smith had signed the year before.

Note 4: John K. Sheen also says in his 1889 pamphlet: "William's wife, Roxy, came to Covington and the result was that she gave into father's hands a lot of papers and books." This interesting activity on the part of Roxie Ann Grant Smith is only slightly alluded to by Isaac Sheen in his communication to the Cincinnati Commercial; there Elder Sheen says: "I have witnesses to prove that Smith's statements concerning the Church Records are totally false; his wife, who has left him, in consequence of his licentiousness, has either taken them with her, or has disposed of them." These words appear to indicate that Roxie left Lee Co., Illinois about the middle of May, 1850 and eventually passed through Covington during her travels. While there (probably in the summer of 1850) Roxie gave Isaac Sheen William's trunk full of old papers and books. It was this valuable set of documents which William discovered to be missing from his home in Lee Co., Illinois, and which he accused Isaac Sheen of obtaining for resale to Almon W. Babbit, Sheen's notable Mormon brother-in-law. For more on the disposition of these papers, see John K. Sheen's 1889 booklet.

Great  Salt  Lake.

Capt. Stansbury of the U. S. corps of Topographical Engineers employed in an examination of the region of the Great Salt Lake, in the Mormon Territory, reports the following interesting facts:

"We found that the whole western shore of the lake consists of immense level plains of soft mud, inaccessible within many miles of the water's edge to the feet of mules or horses, being traversed frequently by meandering rills of salt and sulphur, which apparently sink and seem to imbue and saturate the whole soil, rendering it miry and treacherous. These plains are but little elevated above the present level of the lake..." [lengthy report on the lake and its surroundings follows]

The opinion is expressed by Capt. S. from the knowledge he has gained, that the size of the lake has been much exaggerated and its depth overrated. That it has no outlet, is demonstrated beyond a doubt, and he feels convinced that it can never be of the slightest use for purposes of navigation. The water, for miles out from the shore, is bit a few inches in depth, and if there be any deep water, it must be in the middle. The Utah river, -- the Jordan, as the Mormons call it -- is too insignificant and too crooked to be of any use commercially. The greatest depth of the Utah Lake that Capt. S. found was sixteen feet; so that, for the purposes of a connected line of navigation, neither the river nor the lakes can be of the slightest utility. -- Further examination of the Lake, may however, modify his opinion. The river connecting these lakes is 48 miles in length.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE NAUVOO TEMPLE AGAIN DESTROYED. -- A fatality seems to attend the temple at Nauvoo. It was finished by the Mormons in 1845, was nearly destroyed by fire in 1848, and on the 27th of May a tremendous hurricane demolished the walls. The Icarian community of socialists, under Cabet, had purchased it, and were engaged in repairing it, with a view to fitting it up for schools, studying and meeting halls, and a great refectory for a thousand persons. The workmen were engaged on it, when the storm burst forth with such violence that the walls came tumbling down, and the workmen had to fly for their lives. Those walls that remained standing had to be pulled down. -- The surrounding buildings were also demolished, and in the wash-house, where sic Icarian women were washing, there was so sudden an inundation from the rising creek, that the women had to escape through the windows. The community are going to undertake the erection of another large and fine building.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Salt  Lake  City.

We have been furnished, says the St. Louis Intelligencer, with leave to publish a letter from an intelligent gentleman now in Deseret to his family in St. Charles.... The writer dates his letter April, 1850. We extract only his description of the Mormon city.

"The Salt Lake City is situated three miles from the range of mountains which circles the valley on the east side, and about twenty-two miles from the great Lake.... The members of the Mormon persuasion are liberally encouraged to agricultural pursuits. They are allowed to improve as much [land] as they choose to have surveyed and enclosed in the "commons" near the city, and the pre-emption title they assume, is held indisputable. One man can, in this way, accumulate immense quantities of land, but the privilege of selling it is not extended to him. Either to reserve the right in the city... of themselves disposing of real estate, or to prevent other than Mormons from obtaining a foothold in the country, no Mormon can sell or bargain for a single foot of his land. I should add that, besides the very encouraging privileges of the commons, every citizen of the Salt [Lake] city is allowed one and a half acre of ground; having thus an opportunity of cultivating gardens, fine yards, &c.

"The city is divided into nineteen wards, each containing a half mile square. Every square has its Bishop, whose powers temporally correspond to our justice of the peace. The officers of the general city government are: a President, Marshall, Sheriff, &c., the first of whom is elected for life by [the] council of twelve, and the second semi-annually by the same body. The power of the President is unlimited -- his word in almost every instance is the law of the land. In the event of the perpetration of any crime, however, the council of twelve have a right to depose him. Since the murder of the famed Jo Smith, Mr. Brigham has ruled among the Latter Day Saints. He is much beliked by the people for honesty (so called) in office, no less for his social democratic deportment out. He need never apprehend a revolt among his people -- they are ever disposed to wink at his little errors, and to award him a full measure of praise for his virtues. I have known him pretty intimately since my arrival, and assure you, that if not a saint, he is at least an intelligent, energetic business man, and a very pleasant companionable gentleman...

"The Mormons are a gay people. given to music, dancing and women. They do not, so far as my observation goes, profess to keep the Sabbath holy, nor (despite that the apostles pretend to have secret interviews with their Maker,) do I perceive that religion has much influence over them in any circumstances. The followers of Christ they pretend to regard as heathens who stand the least chance of salvation. Indeed the Mormons regard or pretend to regard the creed of their sires which they themselves just forswore, as the most deceitful of all creeds -- they abominate it. The dislike they bear to Christianity is divided with [that] which they bear American Christians. The United States is seldom alluded to in other than an unfriendly, rancorous spirit, and Missouri and Illinois, you may rest assured come in for a round share of hate. In the councils of the people, this feeling is, from politic and prudent motives, in a great measure concealed. In society and in full business transactions, however, the allow it full play. I hear daily predictions of the most frightful calamities that are shortly to befall the United States. Its cup of wickedness, they say, is full, and the Lord will now visit it with deserts -- his vial of wrath will be opened upon it. It is firmly believed here that the cholera was only a forerunner of the greater evil which will follow, and I hear it ridiculously enough stated, that when the worst does come, 'Zion' -- the Salt Lake City -- will be the only one which can be looked to for security."


Notes: (forthcoming)

Interesting Sketches  of  the  Mormon  Settlements.

BEAVER ISLANDS. -- The Beaver Islands, situated at the foot of Lake Michigan, is the present location of the "Peace party" Mormons, (or, as they love to call themselves, Latter Day Saints) under the administration of James J. Strong [sic -Strang?], whom they claim to be "Joseph Smith's lawful successor in the prophetical office.

Mormonism, whether true or false, has gone forward in gigantic strides, being aided by the help of persecuting priests and biogoted people who will always aid in building up any delusion which the cranium of man can invent.

It has brought into its fold many thousand thinking people from various sects of the day, who seem from their appearance and energy, to be people of understanding and enterprise, who really believe their religion to be true, however unpopular, and are showing by their works the faith which they profess to have. Of all the gathering places the Mormons have had, Beaver Island is the best. It possesses the best natural harbor on the lakes, where all kinds of vessels here lie in perfect safety durinf the severest storms. It is very comodious and beautiful. There are some five or six hundred of the church already gathered there, having set good stores and one nice steam saw-mill on the Island. The interior of the Beaver is good farming country, well timbered with pine, hemlock, mountain ash, beech, birch, spruce and maple, and a great variety of other kinds of woodland. There are three of the most beautiful crystal lakes ever beheld by man. They are building a Tabernacle one hundred by sixty-two feet, in which they expect to receive their pentacostal endowments, which their prophet promises them, that God will give them when it is finished. The people seem to be very industrious, active and enterprising.

Their prophet, Strong, is a masterpiece of intellectuality; a thorough going man of good information. He was once the postmaster of Ellicottville, and editor of the Randolph Herald, of this State [copied from a NY paper] -- was a regular lawyer of considerable eminence before his appointment to be the Mormon prophet. Since which time he has had nothing to do with either law or politics. -- He devotes his whole time for the good of the people who he is president over. He and his people seem to be very much devoted to their cause, and say they shall make Beaver Island a second "Eden' for beauty and privileges. His people, each, are presented with from 40 to 160 acres of land, as an everlasting inheritance to them and their children for ever.

The Mormons are regular free soilers, but not politically so, for they say they have never been protected in their rights in Missouri, or Illinois as citizens, and therefore they will have nothing to do with politics, but "will be subject to the laws that be," and be governed by them, but will not help make them, and thus bring upon them another persecution.

Beaver Islands are blest with the most extensive inland fishery there is in the United States. White fish and Mackinaw trout are taken in abundance. The Mormons own two good sail vessels, and can do a good business in the lumber trade. -- All kinds of work is carried on upon the Beaver which is done elsewhere on the western lake ports. Propellers and sailors are continually going and coming into their port. The first class of large steamers do not stop there regularly; yet a pier will soon be built at the head of the Island, where they will all call regularly. Garden Island, six miles square, is one of the richest and most beautiful islands upon the earth. The Big Beaver is six by fourteen miles in extent. There are several more beautiful and well timbered islands which surround the Big Beaver; each about six miles square. The people have sent to Congress a petition for a grant of these Islands, and it is hoped that the government will give it to them that they may live by themselves and enjoy their fanaticism and delusion, if it is such, without molestation from any one.

---

Mr. L. C. Taylor, writing to the New York Advertiser, at the city of Salt Lake, on his overland route to California, gives the following account of the Mormon valley:

"I cannot describe my feelings as we emerged from the narrow defile of canyon of the mountain, and found ourselves in an open valley, smiling in verdure, and blooming beneath the cultivating hand of man. We had traveled a thousand miles over deserts. mountains and wilds. But here was a perfect oasis, with rustling wheat fields and green meadows, where folks lived, and the voices of women and prattle of children were heard. The Mormons are indeed a most peculiar people. They possess many traits which one cannot but admire. A more hospitable people I never saw. The emigrant is welcome to their houses, and if he is sick. out of money, or deserted by his partners, his wants are supplied and he is welcome to remain with them as long as he pleases. If any one wishes to work, he can earn $5 per day in the harvest field. It is not quite three years since the first emigrants arrived in the valley, themselves and their cattle worn out, scantily supplied with provisions and the winter approaching. But they went to work, and they have supplied themselves abundantly with the necessaries of life, and furnished thousands of strangers with food, teams and health to resume their journey with safety and comfort. The valley contains about 12,000 souls, and 5,000 more are expected this summer; besides this there are several settlements north and south of this, making in all about 20,000. They live generally in small houses or huts of unburnt bricks. Each man can occupy a small portion of land within the limits of the city and as much as they please to till without. Their government resembles somewhat, that of the ancient Jews; and, in fact, they seem to imitate as much as possible in every respect that people. In regard to their religion, I have not learned everything. But they claim to possess in their priesthood the power and spirit of prophecy and working miracles. Having lain dormant since the death of the apostles. it was [restored] in the person of Joe Smith, who was ordained a priest forever, after the order of Melchisedek. Polygamy is indulged in freely, and some other practices which Christians generally consider contrary to the spirit of the New Testament. Brigham, the high priest of the church and president of the state, has at present 27 wives, and all others in proportion to their rank. What will be the result of Mormonism, it is difficult to predict. They certainly are increasing very fast, and are destined at some day, to wield no mean influence in the nation.

I do not believe they can ever be a state by themselves, and belong to the Union. Their customs, laws, religion and inclinations are all opposed to it. What they ardently wish, and at some time expect, is a separate dominion where they can maintain a monarchy, or rather a pretended theocracy to suit themselves, for the revelations which their priests are continually receiving, pertain not only to religious faith and practice, but to their temporal affairs and their whole policy and conduct. But they say that Mormonism is destined to overspread the whole earth, and not till then will be the Millennium of the world.

---

THE GREAT SALT LAKE CITY AND VALLEY. -- In three years Utah has sprung up from a wilderness... (under construction)


Notes: (forthcoming)

The Mormon Colony on Beaver Island.

THE REIGN OF KING STRANG --
THE OFFICES OF THE LAW ON HIS TRACE.

We have a community of Robinson Crusoes much nearer us than most people think for. Two days' sail lands the adventurer on Beaver Island, in Lake Michigan, as completely cut off from the world during nearly half the year, as was Crusoe. There he will find a branch of the Mormon church, under the prophet Strang, who claims to be the true successor of the murdered Joseph Smith. Jesse has gathered quite a community in that isolated spot, and, judging from the tone of his organ, the Northern Islander, he intends his people shall enter upon and occupy the adjacent islands of the inland sea, on the principle that "might makes right." Beaver Island and the group are described as fertile and desireable, well adapted to the wood and lumber trade, and agricultural purposes, and in the midst of the best fisheries of the lake. The Northern Islander states that 15,000 barrels of fish were shipped from them the past season. Saint James is the name of the Mormon town, and a large emigration to it is looked for this season. Warren Post invites the "gathering" in Mormon poetry. The first verse reads: --

O come, all ye saints, without longer delay;
Come up to the Big Beaver, for this is the way
To build again Zion, the saints blest abode,
And anchor your souls in the kingdom of God. The Northern Islander also exhorts to the "gathering":--

"HO! ALL YE LANDLESS!

Come up to the islands and receive a perpetual inheritance for yourselves and your posterity. There is rich and beautiful wild land here, which will not float away, and you can have an abundance without money and without price. Land speculating is abolished here, by giving each man enough for his own use, without price, and treating all sales as frauds upon heirs, and therefore [---ities]. There is land enough in the world for all the people, and God made it; who shall deny each of his creatures a share? It is not done here."

From the close of navigation, last fall, to the first of April, no mail had been received at Beaver Island. The Islander, however, claims that the "Saints" had a good time of it in visiting, feasting, and dancing. This season a sailing packet is to run every week to Mackinao, and a large vessel is to make regular trips up and down the lakes for the transportation of lumber, &c. The Detroit Advertiser has letters of late date, which show and unsettled state of affairs in Strang's dominions. As the winter wore on, the idle fishermen became troublesome to Strang, and he had a whipping post erected for the punishment of those who spoke reproachfully of the Saints and the Prophet, or questioned his right to rule. The letters state that several persons were cruelly whipped with fifty lashes upon the bare back with beach and hickory rods. Terror was then spread among those remaining upon the island, and implicit obedience enforced. A man by the name of Moore, a Mormon, becoming disaffected, left the island, whereupon his property, real and personal, was declared confiscated, and was given to another, by virtue of a royal edict. During the winter, Moore returned upon the ice, and attempted to regain possession of his house and goods, but was compelled to flee for his life. He was pursued by Strang, but was rescued and defended by a small party of Indians, with whom he remained and passed the winter. Upon the opening of navigation, Moore obtained process at Mackinac against Strang, and taking the sheriff, with a posse of fifty well armed Indian warriors, went to Beaver to make arrests. Strang, however, spied out their approach, and suspecting their object, and with the royal examples of Charles II and Louis Philippe before his eyes, fled amain, and took refuge on a small island some ten miles distant. From this place he was driven by the sheriff and his aboriginal forces, who, at our latest advices, (April 11,) were still in full pursuit, having captured a large yawl, several stands of arms, and a quantity of military stores belonging to his Majesty.


Notes: (forthcoming)

The Territory of Utah has become the half-way house to the Pacific, and the Deseret News of April 8th, gives a flattering picture of the progress of events in the Salt Lake Valley. The Mormons are making great preparations to receive their brethren from abroad, and are establishing manufactures of the main articles necessary for comfort in this isolated country. The winter had been mild, and several grain and lumber mills had been erected...

The Quorum of "Seventies" had agreed to erect an extensive rotunda in Great Salt Lake City, to be called the "Seventies Hall of Science," and Gov. Young, their President, was appointed trustee and Superintendent of the work. Shares are fixed at $25.

At a special session of the Great Salt Lake County Court, on the 3d January, some few transient men were convicted of stealing, were sentenced to hard labor for various terms, afterwards pardoned, and permitted to go on their way to California. About three hundred emigrants who wintered with them, left for the gold mines this spring...

---

The Outrage at Beaver Island.

A deplorable state of things exists at Beaver Island, the home of the Mormon leader Strang, and his followers. Serious difficulties exist between the Mormons and other inhabitants of the Island, and depredations upon property and persons is enlarged upon both sides. Strang has established a code of Mormon laws for the government of his people, and his regulations are obnoxious to the "Gentiles," as he styles them, on the Island who do not acknowledge his authority. The Mormons too are charged with various crimes, and Strang himself is the subject of several indictments. During the past winter the dwelling houses of two men named Bennett were burned, and the Mormons were charged with burning them. They were residents of the Island before Strang took possession, and never were Mormons. The Bennetts were owners of property and men of respectability, and it is said that Strang had avowed a determination to drive them from the Island, dead or alive. The conditions of immunity were that they should become Mormons, and be governed by the laws of the sect. This the Bennetts would not do, and they were persecuted by Strang and his followers at times by much litigation, and at other times upon their rights and property without color of law, until finally one of the Bennettes has been killed outright and the other severely wounded. The account as given by the Detroit Advertiser, on the authority of P. M. McKinley, Deputy U. States Marshal, is as follows:

"The Mormons assembled together to the number of 50 or more, and proceeded to the dwelling house of Thomas Bennett, armed with rifles, pistols, knives, &c., and bearing as they said, a Mormon Precept, authorizing them to seize his person and take his property. Upon their approach Bennett closed his doors upon them, telling them not to enter, upon which they fired some 40 shots into the house, the effect of which was to drive T. Bennett forth to seek safety in flight; but when he had gained a few rods, he fell dead, pierced by rifle balls, and forty buck-shot.

They next pursued the other Bennett, who fled instinctively; but after going a few rods, remembered the condition of his poor wife, (who was alone in the house,) and returned to receive their shot just as he crossed the threshold. His hand was cut in two by the shot, and the wound may not be mortal. The fiends then took the dead body of Thomas Bennett, and dragging it by the hair of the head to the boat, threw it in, and compelled Samuel Bennett, the wounded man to follow and sit down by it; they then drove the distracted woman after them into the boat, and took them a distance of five miles to the Harbor, where they held a post mortem examination of the body of Thomas Bennett, with a jury composed of Mormons, with the exception of three persons, who were "Gentiles;" at which it was proposed by the Mormon jurors, to bring in a verdict that Bennett came to his death while resisting the Law!! while the persons who were not Mormons decided that Bennett was deliberately murdered. A fearful excitement prevailed towards the miscreant Mormons among the Indians on the Island, who hate and fear them, as well as the white population who are not Mormons, and they were retrained from executing summary vengeance upon the murderers only through the urgent advice of Messrs. McKinley, Bowers, Moore and Dinsmore, who had persuaded them to await the execution of the laws of Michigan upon the wretches."

There is usually two sides to a story, and such is the case in the Beaver Island difficulties. While the Mormons are sinners they are often sinned against, as the history of this singular sect for twenty years attests, and no doubt blame attaches to both sides in the late melancholy affair. The Prosecuting Attorney of Mackinac county has sent a letter to Detroit, enclosing the findings of the Coroner's Jury, in which the Detroit Free Press says he "acquits the Mormons of any blame in that most unfortunate transaction."

---

THE KING OF BEAVER ISLAND. -- The Detroit Free Press says five bills of indictment have been found against King Strang and others, by the Grand Jury of the U. S. Court in session in that city. One for Counterfeiting, one for Obstructing the Mails, and three for Trespass upon Government lands. Twenty-seven Mormons in all have been indicted.

Strang is at large, on bail, which he found no difficulty in procuring. The general opinion in reference to the Beaver Island trouble seems to be, that throughout the whole, the Mormons have been "more sinned against than sinning." An official examination will, we believe, demonstrate the correctness of this opinion. His Majesty, King James, is anxious for a speedy trial, and manifests an unconcern in regard to his own fate and the security of his crown, hardly characteristic of modern monarchs. We have known Republican Presidents to exhibit less non-chalance.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Uath -- Polygamy, etc.

The wife of a U. S. Judge in Utah, an intelligent and pure minded woman, lately wrote a letter to a friend in Canton, Ohio, which confirms the statements made by others, that Polygamy is openly taught and practiced by the Mormons in that territory; that it is so interwoven with the very threads of society, that it is impossible to mix in social life at all without encountering it at every turn!

Judge Z. Snow has approved the course of gov. Young, in filling vacancies caused by the return of officers appointed by the President and Senate, and a Court has been opened there. We are indebted to Judge Snow for a copy of the Deseret News of Nov. 15, containing, among other things, an account of the trial of Howard Egan for the murder of Jas. Monroe, who had seduced Egan's wife. The trial results in the acquittal of Egan, mainly because the Mountain law there is, that a man guilty of such a crime ought to suffer death.


Note: The Utah Mormons' innovation of "Mountain law," as a substitute for English Common Law in their courts, was short-lived. Once the latest batch of Federal judges were ensconced in Utah Territory, the regular U. S. legal system was again put back into place. Interestingly, English Common Law disallows bigamy and polygamy, while the Mormons' self-styled "Mountain law" ignored the illegalities of these practices altogether.

==> Perry E. Brocchus, one of the Judges who fled Utah some time since, and refused to go to his post, is out in the Washington Union with a long letter, condemning the action of the Administration, and denying its power to remove him.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Death of Aaron Wright

It becomes our painful duty to chronicle the death of this pioneer, a long-honored and worthy citizen. He died at 12 o'clock on Thursday last, in the 79th year of his age, after a very brief illness. Mr. Wright settled here in 1798, and at the time of his death was the oldest resident of the township. In an early day he was an active and prominent citizen, and enjoyed largely the esteem and confidence of his neighbors, and among the early pioneers was distinguished for his public efforts and acts of benevolence. For many years entrusted with the office of magistrate, it gave him an opportunity for an extensive acquaintance, and his counsel and advice was not unfrequently sought. In all the relations of life he sustained an unblemished character, and his home was always the welcome home of the pioneer, many of whom survive him, and deeply mourn his decease. And although he was not a professed follower of Christ, his assistance was never withheld in promoting the cause of the Church, and Ministers and laymen always met a cheerful reception and a hospitable entertainment at his board. When the country was new and an almost unbroken wilderness, his house was opened for religious meetings, and as often his services and time was tendered in inviting his far distant neighbors to assemble under his roof to listen to the Gospel from some Missionary who then visited this section at regular intervals. As a citizen he enjoyed the esteem of all, and his labors and pecuniary means were generously contributed in promoting the interests of our village, entitling him to regard as a public benefactor. He lived a long life of usefulness and his sun has gone down dimmed with age, leaving behind him to mourn his loss a widow and two children, and a large and numerous connection and acquaintances.


Note 1: The genealogical entries in the Zaphna Lake family Bible say that Aaron Wright "died the 28th December 185[3] aged 7[8]." The date given is perhaps his burial day, rather than his actual day of passing, which the newspaper implicitly records as Nov. 10, 1853. This entry places his birth in the year 1775. The Bible entry for Aaron's birth reads: "Aaron Wright, father to Harriet, wife of Z[aphna]. Lake was born the 19th of March, A.D. 1775." In other words, at the time of his death, Aaron Wright's age was about 78 years and 8 months, placing him in the "in the 79th year of his age."

Note 2: The grave marker now in Conneaut Cemetery replaces earlier monuments for Mr. and Mrs. Wright and the inscriptions on the new stone were not copied correctly (for example her age at death is shown as "22," while other records show it was 79. The replacement inscription reads "75" for his age at death, but the original may well have read "78." Probably the Bible and newspaper information is the most reliable, making 1775 his birth year.

Note 3: For more information on this "Conneaut witness" see his web-page in the online "Spalding Saga" historical series.

MORMON CHILDREN. -- Of all the children that come under our observation, we must in candor say, that those of the Mormons are the most profane. Circumstances connected with travel, with occupations in a new house, and desultory life, may in part account for this; but when a people make pretensions to raising up a "holy generation," and are commanded to take wives for the purpose, we naturally look at the quality of the fruit produced by the doctrines; and surely, they should not complain of the Scripture rule, "By their fruits ye shall know them." -- Lieut. Gunnison.


Note: The above quotation occurs under the sub-title, "Effect of Plurality on the Young" in Chapter 8 of Gunnison's 1852 book, The Mormons.

DR. D. HULBURT,

Professor of the Eclectic Theory and Practice of Medicine,

Would respectfully inform the public that he has located at Kirtland, for the purpose of practicing his profession. He has for a long period enjoyed the benefit of a large practice, and has bestowed much attention upon chronic and nervous maladies, and for the last seven years has been laboring zealously in the field of Medical Reform. He has become satisfied from experience that the Eclectic plan of Medication (with the organic remedies) has many and great advantages over all other systems. He invites all who are sufferers from any disease that has resisted the ordinary means, to try his rational and scientific method of treating the sick.

He is prepared to attend to all calls at a distance. Patients wishing to remain with him can be accomodated with board and treatment on the most reasonable terms. The best of reference given.
  Kirtland, Sept. 4, 1854.


Note: Though the identity of the above advertised person has yet to be firmly established, there is reason to assume that he was D. P. Hurlbut (1809-1883) the infamous anti-Mormon statement-collector of 1833. See notes for the Oct. 18th issue of the Painesville Telegraph for a further discussion of this subject.

Note 2: For an earlier advertisement in a New York newspaper, which may have been placed by the same botanical physican, see the Auburn Free Press of Feb. 23, 1831.

MARRIED

On the 15th at Kirtland, by mutual consent, PHILETUS S. BLACKMON, of Painesville, and Miss JULIA HULBURT, of the former place.

---

==> The result of the election has sadly disgusted the editor of the Plain Dealer with politics. He offers to give away his Rooster, and in his paper of the 12th favors his readers with a column and a half of argument in favor of the Mormon doctrine of Plurality of Wives...


Note 1: The 1854 union between Mr. Philetus S. Blackmon and Miss Julia Hurlbut was given more detailed publicity in a contemporary article (probably reprinted from a late Oct. Cleveland paper) published in the Nov. 1, 1854 issue of the Rochester Daily American:  "SPIRITUAL MARRIAGE. -- A man by the name of P. S. Blackman, of Painesville, and a young lady by the name of Julia Hurlburt, daughter of Dr. Hurlburt, of Kirtland, were spiritually married at the latter place on Sunday, Oct. 15. The ceremony consisted of matrimonial declarations made by themselves in the presence of friends, about fifty being present. The services consisted of the following poetical announcement: -- 'Have you seen the morning kiss the opening blossom? Thus did our spirits meet and at the first interview; and as the inevitable elements of nature unite and blend in one harmonious impulse; so are our spirits [affinitized] into one accordant living force. Whoever are thus united by the eternal laws of affinity, naught has authority to separate. We thus introduce ourselves unto you in the relation of husband and wife.'"

Note 2: The "Dr. Hurlburt" (or "Hulburt") referred to in the Rochester news item was the same person who advertised his newly established Kirtland botanical medical practice in the Telegraph of Oct. 11th. It appears likely that he was D. Philastus Hurlbut, the infamous anti-Mormon researcher who contributed so much source material to E. D. Howe's 1834 Mormonism Unvailed. D. P. Hurlbut married Maria Woodbury in 1834 and they eventually settled at Gibsonburg, Sandusky Co., Ohio. The couple's family appears on the 1850 Federal Census report for that place. However, the 1860 census shows D. P. Hurlbut living at Gibsonburg with another lady named "Diana" and with several children who were not products of his marriage with Maria Woodbury. It appears that Hurlbut temporarily left Sandusky Co. and returned to his old haunts around Kirtland, in 1853-54, after he was ejected from his position as a minister in the Sandusky Conference of the United Brethren church. Whether his new consort was from Gibsonburg or had all the time been living in Kirtland remains unclear, but it is likely that she was an early Ohio convert to Spiritualism and that the "fifty present" at her daughter's "wedding" were residents of Geauga and Lake counties -- perhaps mostly Diana's old friends. Julia may have been Diana's child by a previous association, or she may have been D. P. Hurlbut's actual daughter, born prior to his union with Maria Woodbury. A "Julia Hurlbut" married George Hall near Kirtland on Oct. 22, 1845. If Hurlbut's daughter Julia was already married, that small fact would not have prevented her from entering into extra-legal "spiritual wifery" with Mr. Philetus Swift Blackmon, late of Farmersville, Cattaraugus Co., New York. Although the union produced at least three children, it was evidently never recorded at the Lake County court house, an indication that it was not licensed, as would have been the case for a regular Spiritualist or Swedenborgian wedding

Note 3: If the 1854 Kirtland "Doctor" was indeed D. P. Hurlbut, he did not remain for very long in the Kirtland area. In their 1908 History of Kane County, Ill., R. Wait Joslyn and Frank W. Joslyn give passing mention to "Drs. D. Hurlbut and P. S. Blackman" having "settled in Aurora in the fall of 1858, for a stay of several months..." (vol. I p. 527). This information was likely derived from an 1858 newspaper advertisement for the two "doctors'" practice in northeastern Illinois. By 1860 D. P. Hurlbut again living at Gibsonburg, maintaining a household with Diana and their several little ones. The couple were then Spiritualists, along with at least one of D. P. Hurlbut's older children. In 1867 his daughter Phoebe married Leander Franklin and went to live on his farm near the hamlet of Rollersville, which lies about four miles southwest of Gibsonburg. Later that same year, D. P. Hurlbut was chosen as Rollersville's delegate to Ohio's first annual Spiritualist convention. Mr. Hurlbut's old associate, Eber D. Howe, attended as the Spiritualist delegate from Painesville.

Note 4: D. P. Hurlbut's reported early life in Penn-Yan, New York may receive some support from the fact that the Rochester Daily American's news item, on his daughter's marriage, was picked up and printed in abbreviated form by the Penn-Yan Yates County Whig. This reprint appeared on Nov. 9, 1854. For an earlier advertisement in a Penn-Yan area newspaper, which may have been placed by this same botanical physican, see the Auburn Free Press of Feb. 23, 1831.

MELANCHOLY. -- Mr. Joseph Coe, of Kirtland, was killed on Tuesday of last week, in the following shocking manner. He went into his field in the afternoon for the purpose of catching his Bull, which he had frequently done, and being absent unusually long, search was made for him, when his body was found mangled in a shocking manner. It appeared that the animal had thrown Mr. Coe to the ground and jumped upon his breast, which doubtless caused his death almost instantly. His clothes were nearly stripped from his body, and his flesh, in many places, torn off.

Mr. C was in the 70th years of his age. He leaves a wife and four children.


Note 1: This same notice also appeared in a late Oct. issue of the Willoughby Independent.

Note 2: Joseph Coe (1784-1854) was an 1830 New York convert to Mormonism. He was a member of the 1831 Mormon expedition to Jackson Co., Missouri, to dedicate the new "Zion." In Kirtland Coe became a member of first Mormon High Council and was one of the elders who helped lay the cornerstones of the Temple. After joining the dissenting party of Latter Day Saints, he was excommunicated by Joseph Smith loyalists at the end of 1837 (see also, the William R. Coe collection of Mormon documents in the Beinecke Library of Yale University).

UTAH. -- The Utah News congratulates the Mormons upon the passage of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, for it indicates that the majority in Congress are willing to allow inhabitants of Territories the same privilege in regulating their internal policy as are allowed to those who live in the States.

The correspondence of the Missionaries scattered over the world occupies much space in the News, and it is astonishing how Mormon Apostles have gone into every part of the habitable glove, making converts. Elder Jessee Haven writes from Cape Town, Cape of Good Hope, and says:

"Many of the women here, as in many other places would like to join the Latter Day Saints if they had a plurality of husbands, or men, instead of plurality of wives."


Notes: (forthcoming)

The famous Brigham Young, the Governor of Utah, and Grand High Priest of the Mormons, came near having an inglorious end put to his career, in August last. He went down into his well to recover a lost bucket, when the kerbing tumbled in, the earth followed, and Brigham Young became, for the once, a subterranean Saint. But the zeal of his followers would not permit any such finish to the life of their most faithful shepherd. Spades and shovels were brought into requisition; the harem of the buried Governor assembled in force to aid the saving efforts of the male members of the flock, and, in about two hours, they had the gratification of pulling him out, like a forked radish, from his sub-soil bed. He preached that night from the text -- "It is well with me."


Notes: (forthcoming)

==> Accounts from the Sacramento Valley, Cal. say, that the Grasshoppers are destroying the crops there, as well as in Utah. Accounts also state that they are finding gold and silver on Sweet Water river, on the plains, and that the Mormons were at work damming and turning that stream from its bed.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Mormon Principles

Appear to be extending to New York. We notice by telegraphic despatches, and other sources, the Fourierites, having failed in their plan of new modelling society by forming Communities, have started a new sect, calling themselves "Free Lovers."... The details of their acts are horrible. Its beastiality comes up to the worst accounts we have had from the Mormons at Salt Lake.


Notes: (forthcoming)

THE PUBLIC LANDS. -- We have nominally 1,400,000 square miles of territory, say 8 or ten hundred millions of acres, but 5/6th of it valueless. The government cannot now -- is unable to supply the demand to actual settlers, at $1.25: this is owing to the grants made to States, companies, and soldiers. In Utah there are 34,000 Mormons occupying land without a title, and there is no likelihood that for 5 years to come it can be surveyed and sold.


Notes: (forthcoming)

==> The Mormons of Utah have founded a new settlement on Salmon river, near the Rocky mountains. -- Salmon river is nowhere near Utah. In fact, it is a long distance from their territory in the heart of Oregon, and thus the new Mormon settlement is a new movement, and not a mere branch of any of the Mormon settlements near the border.


Note: Fort Limhi was founded in June, 1855, on a tributary of the Salmon River, by the Utah Mormons, as a mission to the "Lamanites" of Oregon Territory. At the height of its activity the settlement had less than 40 white inhabitants. It was abandoned at the time "Johnson's Army" was marching on Salt Lake City, leaving only the memory of its name in Idaho's "Lemhi County."

==> The Mormons are taking the incipient steps for applying for admission into the Union as a State. Can they be admitted with Polygamy;   never.

Notes: (forthcoming)

SCHISM AMONG THE MORMONS. -- Elder John Hyde, hitherto one of the leading spirits among the Latter Day Saints, who was sent to the Sandwich Islands to convert the heathen to the many wife system, has renounced the Mormon faith, and is engaged in exposing its fallacies. Among other charges, that of falsifying the census of the Territory is made. The ex-elder says that there are not much over half as many inhabitants in Utah as the census returns would indicate. Names of deceased persons, names of disciples who never came there, and those who have long since gone away, have been retained to swell the aggregate to the required seventy thousand.


Note: For a report of John Hyde's initial tilt against the Mormons in Hawaii, see the Oct. 25, 1856 issue of The Polynesian. The Ohio Repository editor evidently gleaned his information on Hyde from either the San Francisco Western Standard of Nov. 29, 1856 or from some other California paper.

A correspondent of the Chicago Tribune denies that statement that slavery does not exist among the Mormons. He says their laws sanction it, and their religion inculcates the idea that the Africans are an inferior race of beings. They do not own many negroes, but hold in bondage not less than four hundred Indian children under the pretence of apprenticeship.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Resignation of a United States Judge.

The Hon. W. W. Drummond, one of the Justices of the supreme court of Utah Territory, has forwarded his resignation to Washington. He thus sets forth his reasons for resigning:

In the first place, Brigham Young, the governor of Utah Territory, is the acknowledged head of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints," commonly called "Mormons"; and, as such head, the Mormons look to him, and to him alone, for the law by which they are to be governed: therefore no law of Congress is by them considered binding in any manner.

Secondly. I know that there is a secret oath-bound organization among all the male members of the church to resist the laws of the country, and to acknowledge no law save the law of the "Holy Priesthood," which comes to the people through Brigham Young direct from God; he, Young, being the vicegerent of God and prophetic successor of Joseph Smith, who was the founder of this blind and treasonable organization.

Thirdly I am fully aware that there is a set of men, set apart by special order of the Church, to take both the lives and property of persons who may question the authority of the church, the names of whom I will promptly make known at a future time.

Fourthly. That the records, papers, &c., of the supreme court have been destroyed by order of the church, with the direct knowledge and approbation of Governor B. Young, and the federal officers grossly insulted for presuming to raise a single question about the treasonable act.

Fifthly. That the federal officers of the Territory are constantly insulted, harassed, and annoyed by the Mormons, and for these insults there is no redress.

Sixthly. That the federal officers are daily compelled to hear the form of the American government traduced, the chief executives of the nation, both living and dead, slandered and abused from the masses, as well as from all the leading members of the Church, in the most vulgar, loathsome, and wicked manner that the evil passions of men can possibly conceive.


Note: The above is just a partial extract from Judge Drummond's March 30, 1857 letter of resignation. The full document was published in a mid-May, 1857 issue of the New York Times and in various other newspapers, such as the May 30, 1857 issue of the Oregon City Oregon Argus.

Iniquity always finds a Hard Road to Travel in the End.

The Democratic party have rested